Tuesday, December 3, 2013

CASSETTE REVIEW: Hooded Menace “Gloom Bap” (Dig Dug DIY)

Before
we even explore the music on this cassette, I must compliment Dig Dug DIY on
being so awesome. This cassette was
packaged with a small satchel that has that Dig Dug DIY logo painted over it
several times in a DIY style. Inside
this fabric bag were some odds and ends, including a walking milk carton, the
Letter M, a small roll of tape, stickers and a mini-skateboard about the size
of my pinky finger.

The
collection of pure randomness that comes with this (and imagining what would
come with your order) makes it worthwhile without even beginning the process of
realizing, hey, we have music to review here!

Oh, and
a shout out to Dig Dug DIY as well for being named after one of my favorite
Atari games. No joke: They have an arcade game in the waiting room
at my son’s doctor’s office and of the handful of games you can play on it, Dig
Dug is one of them. I never mind waiting
for his name to be called and often show up early to his appointments because
it’s always set on free play.

First
note is that this tape is hand painted (DIY, yes) and thus the shade of
blue/green that covers the tape itself also manages to cover over the middle
part where you can see the actual tape (You know, the part that the plastic
part makes cycle and protects)

This is
kind of funny to me (my first time seeing it) because I can’t tell where I’m at
in the tape, which side is rewound, etc.
It’s not a huge deal, but rather
something I’ve yet to encounter in the physicality of cassette tapes.

Hooded
Menace as a musical project has beats for days. They are instrumental and just pure joy to
listen to whenever I can. Certain styles of music don’t translate as
well on cassette as they should, the two main ones being metal and hip
hop. These are not quite the typical
hip hop beats in that sense.

Rather,
this reminds me of something that might be done by someone like Dan Deacon or
someone who was overproduced being stripped down to their basic roots. It reminds me of what every artist out there
who wants to be a producer (You know the guys) should aspire to sound like
because this just makes so much more sense.